


every inch of ground i give

by AllegoriesInMediasRes



Series: OT3 AU verse fics [4]
Category: 16th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF, The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Multi, Oneshot, Religion, also posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25744303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/pseuds/AllegoriesInMediasRes
Summary: Five concessions Mary Tudor made in her lifetime, and one she never did. Set in mihrsuri‘s OT3 verse.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Thomas Cromwell/Henry VIII of England
Series: OT3 AU verse fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874566
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	every inch of ground i give

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mihrsuri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Rewrite The Stars For You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13066005) by [mihrsuri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/pseuds/mihrsuri). 



  1. The Church can be as opportunistic as any temporal king. From the time she takes her first footsteps, Mary believes in the righteousness and the _infallibility_ of the papacy, until the day Rome declares her mother’s marriage null and void. It shakes the young princess to her core, and while she remains a devout Catholic all her life, she never boasts of such conviction again. 
  2. All of Anne Boleyn’s children are Mary’s siblings, all of them. Whoever their father is, they are innocent children, and calling them brother and sister is a small price to pay to save them from the slur of _bastard,_ a slur Mary herself has borne. 
  3. Marriage can exist across two different faiths. She never would have thought such a thing possible, but Philip of Bavaria teaches her elsewise, much to her eventual happiness. 
  4. Thomas Cromwell is her father’s husband in the eyes of God, as well as Anne’s. Bitter is this one in particular, sheer anathema to all her understandings of the world. The conceding is slow and gradual, like the shifting of the stars in the firmament, and it takes years for her to be able to admit it even in the privacy of her own thoughts
  5. Mihrimah Sultan is a fine Princess of Wales and future Queen of England. Isabella of Castile waged war against Mihrimah’s ilk and termed them infidels, and her blood runs strong in Mary’s veins. But by the time the Ottoman princess sets foot on English shore, Mary has been fashioned and forged in the flames of the Reformation, and she is more than what came before her. Despite what history later says, one of Mihrimah’s closest allies in her court is her eldest sister-in-law. 



  1. But what Mary will _never_ concede, not even if her life depended upon it, not even if the damnation of all her children’s souls rested upon it, is that her father was right to separate her from her mother. A daughter needs the love and care of her mother, especially as she grows to reach womanhood, and spending the years between eleven and seventeen parted from her left scorch marks upon Mary’s soul. She lets go of much else in her life, but this she holds onto, this she never rationalizes away as anything but cruelty.




End file.
